Getting Everyone on the Right Page

Too Many Ideas

Have you ever been working with an energized team and find you have too many great ideas to wrap your arms around? Maybe you need to trim down a long list of options and quickly prioritize the most viable and valuable options to the top.

This could happen a number of different ways:

• After a round of brainstorming
• During a SWOT analysis
• Recording observations from a focus group
• Collecting ideas for a cause and effect diagram
• Assessing issues noted from customer complaints
• Reviewing action items from a monthly business review
• Ranking recommendations from an organizational assessment

And there are dozens of other examples.

You name a team-oriented activity, and there is usually a point where you get a list of “things” which needs to be put under control.

Many Tools

There are many tools claiming to be the answer:

• Decision Matrix Analysis
• Action Priority Matrix
• Urgent and Important Principle
• Paired Comparison Analysis
• Circle of Concern vs. Control
• Pareto Analysis

These tools, and many others, can work. Unfortunately, many tools seem to slow the team down when you need to make a specific decision about classification or priority.

Setting Priorities

Setting the classification or priority becomes a team decision and opens up endless debate.

For example:

• Is this item a priority 2 or 3 – and what is priority 3 again?
• Is this important for a few or for everyone – what do we do about that?
• We need to control another department – let’s say their problem is in our circle of control!
• Give it a high chance of success – that process has been failing for years, but the times are a changin’
• Call it a quick fix – it only affects the procedures for 8,000 people in 57 locations
• Can we talk some more about this “blockchain” thing – everyone says it can solve all issues

You know the drill. It is frustrating for everyone.

There has to be a better way!

Gaining Control

Gaining control requires success at three challenges:

• Sorting your list from most important to least important
• Getting everyone to agree on this prioritized list
• Doing this fast, and on the spot, when creativity is high

For me, one tool has become my favorite for solving these three challenges.

It’s called RightPage and has consistently delivered a sense of accomplishment for teams I have worked with.

A no-charge online version is available from our partners at Six Disciplines. More on that later.

But first, let’s walk through a simple, but very representative, example.

Your Team Must Decide

Think about working on the summer picnic and your team needs to decide something that could turn into a barroom brawl if not managed well.

You must decide on the flavors of ice cream to serve!

Like everything, you have a constraint. The budget allows for the purchase of 4, and only 4, buckets of ice cream.

At this point, a wise executive would tell the team to decide whatever they want. Then, the executive would leave the room and the mayhem would begin.

You need the team to make a decision and you need everyone to support the decision.

An overused word called consensus comes to mind. But forcing consensus is not something you want to do when an important issue like ice cream is involved.

I propose you need everyone on the same page or the RightPage – the page which lists the 4 flavors.

Step 1 – Brainstorm

Let’s get a list of possible flavors.

An effective approach to brainstorming:

• List the problem statement – “we need to identify 4 flavors of ice cream to serve at the summer picnic
• Go around the room with each person tossing out 1 flavor they would like considered
• Keep going round and round until people run out of ideas – say “pass” if you don’t have a new flavor to add
• As the well runs dry, announce you will close the collection of ideas
• Going once, going twice, done
• Discuss the ideas for clarification; combine items everyone agrees are essentially the same thing

Agree on Options

Let’s look at the flavors you collected:

• Butter Pecan
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Vanilla
• Strawberry
• Mint Chocolate Chip
• Rocky Road
• Jalapeno Mustard
• Peanut Butter Cup
• French Vanilla

The great news for the team and for the facilitator – this was a fast brainstorming session. It did not require discussion and debate. Even a somewhat ridiculous flavor, from one person, does not slow down the process.

Consensus Achieved

I mentioned earlier about “consensus” being an overused word.

The RightPage tool supports a remarkable approach which creates the environment for a team to actually reach consensus. A few powerful aspects:

• No wasted time in meaningless debate – you have probably been in meetings with endless discussion on something nobody cares about!
• Everyone participates as an equal – each person gets their 100 points at the beginning and becomes engaged in shaping the discussion
• Differences of opinion are easier to explore – the discussion shifts to learning why someone gave their points to a specific option

Summary

Use RightPage to gain control while meeting the common challenges:

• Sorting your list from most important to least important
• Getting everyone to agree on this prioritized list
• Doing this fast, and on the spot, when creativity is high

This is one problem solving tool you will use over and over.

Mike Loughrin

Mike Loughrin is the CEO and Founder of Transformance Advisors. He also teaches for Louisiana State University Shreveport and is on the board of directors for the Association for Supply Chain Management Northern Colorado.

Mike brings exceptional experience in industry, consulting services, and education. Mike has helped organizations such as Levi Strauss, Warner Home Video, Lexmark, and Sweetheart Cup.

Keeping a commitment to a balanced life, Mike loves downhill skiing, bicycle rides, and hiking in the mountains. See one of his trails of the month at: Little Switzerland.

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